A reading from the book of Denny Dinosaur by Oisin Fulham (5) has brought great satisfaction to many people, not least his parents, Denise and Colm.
Denny Dinosaur is for seven-year-olds, and last week Oisin read from it for the first time. Now when Colm comes from work, Oisin recognises him and says: "Hi, Daddy" and "Will you play hide?", just like any other child. Except that he isn't. Oisin is autistic.
It's a long way in a few months. Colm recalled the complete absence of emotional or eye contact. His son was "a walking shell. There was nothing there. It was brutal, especially for his mother".
Oisin was diagnosed in August 1998. Like many such parents, the Fulhams soon discovered how poor support structures are for autistic children in the State.
Through the Internet, Colm discovered Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). It is a technique that has been very successful with autistic children in the US. He contacted the Parents Education as Autism Therapists (PEAT) group in the North. It shows parents how to use the technique.
He remortgaged his home in Clontarf and, with friends, built a classroom in his garden. Dr Ken Kerr, director of PEAT, agreed to help, and by last May Oisin and another child were being taught there by two tutors, as well as two clinical psychology students, Phil Smyth and Clare McDowell.
Colm has since built a second classroom, and there are two more children at the school, which he hopes "will change the face of Irish autism for ever". All funding has come from the parents, with free services from clinical psychologists, Dr Kerr, Dr Fiona Mulhern and Dr Mickey Keenan. Colm's employers, Hewlett-Packard, donated computers worth £10,000.
Meanwhile they have set up ICAN-DO, Irish Children's Autism Network for Developmental Opportunities. It held its first workshop for parents last November to help them apply the ABA technique in the home. The third workshop, attended by about 50 parents, was yesterday.
I-CAN-DO may be contacted at (01) 833-0644 or icando@eircom.net or icando@esatclear.ie
